Fergburger, Queenstown

Let's talk burgers. I think Americans in general have a great love for burgers but I have to say that Fergburger in Queenstown may be one of my favorite burger joints. Don't get me wrong, I will always love In N Out.

But Fergburger is like no other burger place I've been to. Their menu is inspiring and fun...and funny.

I first noticed this place because every single time we walked by the store or even the street you could see a line of people. Thats quite impressive considering they are open 21 hours a day and in an area surrounded by restaurants.




Fergburger uses all local ingredients. The meat comes from Al the butcher and the buns are made specifically for them from a local bakery. The buns are huge.

What I love about this place are the options. The Big Al includes 2 beef patties, bacon, 2 eggs and all the fixin's, including beet which seems common in NZ.

The Little Lamby is a lamb patty with mint jelly, the Sweet Bambi wild venison with a thai plum chutney.



If you like chicken you can choose from a varitey of Cockadoodle burgers. Like fish? Well then you can order The Codfather!

For the very few of my blog readers that are vegetarian (how can you ever stomach my posts? thank you for staying)...The Holier Than Thou. Tempura tofu with spicy satay coconut and corainder sauce.

Don't let the prices throw you off. $12 NZD is about $8 USD and I think these burgers are well worth $8.



This place is a well oiled machine. There was a line out the door and the restaurant was packed. Still all the employees genuinely looked like they were having fun. It works like an assebly line but a few of them seemed to be rotating stations.

Around Fergburger are pictures of the staff and when they worked there. Everyone was young and energetic. You could just tell it was the cool place to work.



They seemed to be very staff focused, which I love. It's evident on the Fergburger website. You must head over there and read the history of Fergburger. Its hilarious and its only a few short paragraphs.

I read some articles on them and found that they had originally been in a tiny hole in the wall place in 2001 with 2 Warehouse stoves (Warehouse is similar to Walmart). They saw a need for some good late night eats and started Fergburger.

"As there was virtually no food back in those days drunk people had begun eating their own clothes and also scraps of firewood left on the road."- from the Fergburger website.



Just look at the size of those patties! Some have bacon, jelly, blue cheese, swiss cheese, brie or edam on them.

Oh and the place was so clean. We sat right on the counter looking into the kitchen. When there was a spill someone came by to clean it up. Things were being wiped down constantly. Not that I'm all that squeamish (as you can see from this Chinese Restaurant) typically but I was really impressed.



This shot is a slightly blurry because I took it as I was spilling one of my patties onto my lap.

I had the Bun Laden with falafel, lemon yoghurt, chipotle chili sauce, cucumber, avocado and the normal lettuce, tomato and green onion. It was amazing. I mean the burger is literally larger than my hand with all my fingers spread. The real treat in this was the chipotle chili sauce and I'll totally be adding that to burgers in the future.

I could barely finish this. I mean, I did, but it was hard.



B had the Fergburger because he really is a burger purist. I know... didn't you totally expect him to get the Sweet Bambi or something? Its just your basic burger. I will say that the meat was very flavorful.

He doesn't even get cheese. I try to ignore this fact. I know we all make poor decisions sometimes and I try to be a forgiving person.

I really want to start experimenting with burger combinations now.

How do you like your burger? Are your favorites homemade or do you have a place you love to get them at?